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COMPANY
The Gastromea team (left to right): Maria Siewert (clerk), Ursula Kubitza (order processing and pre-press), Simone Steinherz (packaging), Nadine Siev-
eers s (sales), Ralph alp Kopschek opsc e (technology (tec ology and a d ddispatch); spatc ); belo below: : Christian C st a Darmstadt a stadt (o (owner), e ), Laura au a Ste Steinmeier e e ( (media ed a des design g ttrainee). a ee).
GASTROMEA: PERSONALISED ADVERTISING
A PATHWAY
TO SUCCESS
Printed drinking straws, sugar sticks designed as desired,
thermal mugs, and paper cups for coffee to go – caterers and
hoteliers can stick in the memory of their guests in many diff
ferent, even unusual ways. Christian Darmstädter’s company,
GASTROMEA, specialises in just such products and runs
“Germany’s first event item printing house for catering and
the hotel business”.
What makes an event a success? Good,
well-conceived organisation. What
makes a restaurant a success? Good food,
attentive service, pleasant surroundings. And
what is the hallmark of a good hotel? Comfortable
beds, an abundant breakfast buffet,
an attractive pool. All these factors are certainly
important in making guests feel good,
but the success of a host is primarily de-
pendent on whether visitors keep the establishment
in good memory, whether they are
happy to come back, and even willing to recommend
it to others. The discreetly applied
logo on napkins, cutlery sleeves, or
perhaps on the drinking straw in a cocktail
can help do just this. “However, the topic of
advertising is often neglected, especially at
SMEs,” Christian Darmstädter notes.
PSI Journal 2/2016 www.psi-network.de
MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
The 41-year-old knows what he is talking
about. He worked for sixteen years as a
specialist and executive in the upmarket
catering and hotel business, gathering experience
at home and abroad, completing
state degrees at the college of hotel management
and many degrees focusing on
marketing and consulting. “I often spent
a long time looking for reliable suppliers
who could print a company logo on promotional
products for the establishments
where I worked,” Darmstädter recalls. This
gave rise to the idea of an advertising agency
specialising in low-priced products for
the catering and hotel business.
EVERYTHING FROM
A ONE-STOP SHOP
Founded in 2005, at first exclusively as a
paper printing company for the gastronomic
commodities markets, the focus of GAS-
TROMEA soon shifted to producing promotional
products of its own for the German-speaking
region. Today, the company
has five main categories in its online
shop: cups, drinking straws, edibles and
beverages, light and shadow, and paper
printing. “What makes it special is that we
can put printing on nearly all the products